popular vote across the country has proved very tight, standing at the moment, without the result from florida, 50.2% of the american people supported barack obama, 48.3% for his challenger, mitt romney. we will bring in more electoral votes once the results come through. if we look at the u.s. congress, meanwhile, republicans maintained control of the lower house, democrats have kept their majority in the upper house. this is how those electoral votes stack up, state-by-state. mitt romney, 206 electoral votes, president obama, 303. compared to the last election, president obama 1365 electoral votes, john mccain won on hundred 73. back then, we should say that he won n.c. and indiana, but those states went to mitt romney this time around. let's get the full story of the night from our washington correspondent. >> the first family, stepping out to a second term. to the strains of signed, sealed, committed. looking forward to the inspiration from the voters. >> you, the american people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have to pick ourselves up,